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2 CRF NEWSLETTER CRF Annual Meeting and Expedition Volume 38, NO.2 established 1973 Tlte 2010 CRF Annual Meeting will be Octo- ber 22-24, 2010, at the Ozark National Scenic Send all articles and reports for submission to: Riverways in Van Buren MO. The Board of Di- William Payne, Editor [email protected] rectors will meet on Friday, October 22. A pub- 11023 N. Auden Circle, Missouri City, TX 77459 lic meeting and poster/map presentation will be on Saturday, October 23 in the large meeting The CRF Newsletter is a quarterly publication of the Cave room at Ozark Riverways headquarters at Van Research Foundation, a non-profit organization incorpo- Buren. Anyone wishing to present powerpoints rated in 1957 under the laws of Kentucky for the purpose of should contact me. A Sunday field trip will fea- furthering research, conservation, and education about caves ture three large springs of the Ozark Riverways and karst. and associated features. Accomodations will in- Newsletter Submissions & Deadlines: clude some research housing, plenty of inexpen- Original articles and photographs are welcome. If intending sive motels, and camping. RV hookups are to jointly submit material to another publication, please in- available. form the CRF editor. Publication cannot be guaranteed, es- A group feed will be at a local barbecue pecially if submitted elsewhere. All material is subject to restaurant. revision unless the author specifically requests otherwise. A week long expedition will follow: objec- For timely publication, please observe these deadlines: tives may include monitoring trips to caves, February issue by December 1 cave survey, other management activities, ridge- May issue by March 1 walking, etc. Canoe trips may be part of these August issue by June I objectives. The week long trip will be centered November issue by September I at the Powder Mill Research Center on the park, about 30 miles north of Van Buren. Some beds Before submitting material, please see publication are available for our distant colleagues while guidelines at: www.cave-research.org camping space is plentiful. NEWSLETTER STAFF: Plane access is best to Springfield, Mis- Content Editor: William Payne, [email protected] souri, although one can also fly into St. Louis Layout/Photos: Ralph Earlandson, [email protected] or Cape Girardeau. Mailing: Bob Hoke, [email protected] For more information on the park go to "'2010 Cave Research Foundation http://www.nps.gov/ozarlindex.ht m. Cave Research Foundation Board of Directors Scott House President - Scott House, [email protected] President Vice President - Charles Fox, [email protected] Cave Research Foundation Treasurer - Bob Hoke, [email protected] 1606 Luce St. Secretary - Bernie Szukalski, [email protected] Cape Girardeau MO 63701 Hamilton Valley Director - Pat Kambesis (573) 651-3782 George Crothers, Joel Despain, Joyce Hoffinaster, John Lovaas, Steve Ormeroid, Pat Seiser, Diana Tomchick Operations Council Barbe Barker (Guadalupes), Mick Sutton (Ozarks), Pat Helton & Bruce Rogers (Lava Beds), Dave West (Eastern), John Tinsley (Sequoia/Kings Canyon) For information about tlte CRF contact: Scott House 1606 Luce St. Cover Photo Cape Girardeau, MO 63701-5208 Scott House took this photo of various survey phone 573-651-3782 gear laid out on a table at the CRF hut at Carls- [email protected] bad Caverns. The gear includes both a tape and Donations to CRF should be sent to: a laser Disto for measuring distances, as well as Bob Hoke, CRF Treasurer a combination compass and c1ino. Also in this 6304 Kaybro St. arrangement are two CRF Annual Reports and a Laurel, MD 20707-2621 sketch of the Carlsbad Cavern Main Corridor. [email protected] 3 Gravestone Added for Former Cave Guide By: Gina Kinslow The following article appeared in the February Slash and that she had been decorating his grave 25,2010 Glasgow Daily Times and is reprinted since she was a little girl, because he is buried here with permission. in the Curd family cemetery with her auntie, Josie. " GLASGOW - Ed Bishop's grave used to be The woman who came forward during the marked by a simple field stone, but he now has B lack History Month program eight years ago, a proper gravestone thanks to contributions was Elnora Curd Harriford, of Smiths Grove. made to the Cave Research Foundation. "He was mv uncle by marriage, My dad's On Wednesday afternoon employees with sister was his first wife," Harriford said during Borders Monument set gravestones for Bishop, a telephone interview Wednesday afternoon. his first wife. Josie. and their infant daughter, Harriford had planned to be there Wednesday Chauncey, in a small private cemetery off Ky. when the new gravestones were set, but the 90 West outside of Glasgow. cold, snowy weather kept her from attending. "Ed was one of the better known Mammoth She recalled asking the park ranger follow- Cave guides. He was an African-American. He ing the Black History Month program how she was the grand-nephew of Stephen Bishop, the could get a copy of the picture that had been famous cave guide, and he started guiding in used in the program, Mammoth Cave in 1886 and continued to guide "} said, 'He was married to my daddy's sis- until about 1917," said Joy Lyons, chiefofpro- ter, '" she said. gram services at Mammoth Cave National Park. While Lyons refers to the cemetery as the "He was also the guide who was assigned to Curd Family Cemetery, Harriford says it's real Max Kemper, (who) was a German cartographer name is Slaughter Place Cemetery because a who came to Mammoth Cave in 1908 and, to- family with the last name of Slaughter once gether with Ed Bishop, they explored the cave owned the property where the cemetery is lo- and created \\'hat is called the Kemper map. cated. It is near Harlow's Chapel Baptist which was the first really good, accurate map of Church, but Harriford doesn't think her uncle the entire known cave systern." was a member of the church. According to Mammoth Cave National "I think they had a church over there at Park's Web site, a place known as Bishop's Pit Mammoth Cave. I imagined that Ed joined that on the Violet City Lantern route, is named in church, but he came from Edmonton. He could honor of Bishop, and was one of the areas he have belonged to a church in Edmonton." discovered with Kemper in 1908. Harriford never knew Bishop. Bishop left the Mammoth Cave area, after "But my older brothers and sisters knew living nearby for more than 30 years with his him," she said. "} was the youngest of 12 chil- four children to Rock Island, III., and worked dren. My dad was his wife's baby brother. He with the railroad for a period of time. He later was a kind-hearted man. He was a good man. moved to Indianapolis and worked as a janitor My family always thought well.of him." . in a government building. A photo of Bishop and hiS first wife, JOSIe, He was living in Indianapolis when he died was placed on the new gravestone Wednesday. in 1931. Bishop married twice following his first "Because of my interest in Mammoth Cave's wife's death. Harriford said her family isn't African-American history I liked knowing where sure of the cause of Josie Bishop's death, but the guys wound up. So I always thought Ed believes she may have had tuberculosis. Bishop had been buried somewhere around Indi- Other family members are also buried in the anapolis since he died there," Lyons said. "I cemetery, including Ed Bishop's mother, Lave- found out later at a Black History Month pro- nia, and his brother, Skyler, among others, gram that we did at Barren County High School. More information on Bishop and other early Chuck DeCroix and I were doing a program and Mammoth Cave tour guides can be found by vis- a woman came up after the program and said iting the Mammoth Cave National Park Web site that she had seen a picture of her uncle in the at http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm . program, in the slide program, and it wound up being Ed Bishop, She said he was buried at 4 East to West: Caving In and With the Legends By: Scott House Everyone is now glad to have the harbingers yours truly was one of three who were less than of spring back after what virtually everyone excited about going head first into crawlways. would agree has been a wretched winter. The But no reptile manifested itself and that cave spring peepers have started, a snake was spot- was finished as well. The annual Missouri Natu- ted, and the daffodils are poking their heads out ral Resources Conference gave us a chance to of what was recently deep snow. Cave work was network with agency folks from all over the pretty much hit or miss this winter, with more state. Jeff "Spike" Crews and I presented on opportunities missed than hit. And, sadly, it was CRF's GIS work in Perry County, Missouri, another bad winter for the bats as the insidious while Mick Sutton gave a paper on aquatic White Nose Syndrome continues its devastating stream census results. Another survey trip in- march. volved some mapping in a couple of stream Nonetheless things were busy. For my part, I caves where hope springs eternal that the thing have been here and there mixing CRF manage- might just open up. And hiking through the ment work with CRF contracting work and CRF woods with Spike and Dan Lamping on a rare cave work.